What can I eat with no teeth to speak of?

May 9, 2008 10:40 AM

Dentures dentures dentures! In stage one of getting dentures, what should I expect in the weeks to come?

Due to a degenerative bone problem in my jaw, my dentist says that I have no option other then to get full dentures. I am 27, so you can imagine the humiliation involved.. and to make matters worse, I play the banjo.. Today, a matter of minutes ago.. I got home from having 20 teeth extracted, basically all of the back ones. Now my mouth is full of gauze, pain, and blood. When this is healed, I go back and get a second surgery where implants are placed for the lowers for retention and we install the uppers. In the mean time, what can I eat? I know nothing the suction limits, but does this include things like smoking "tobacco" pipes where there is no vacuum suction.. even if you are sucking on the pipe.. No straws, no solid foods to speak of.. all I have are my front teeth for cosmetic purposes and they are almost useless for chewing.. Should I get on a strict soup and juice regiment, or can I eat things as soft as cottage cheese? Any help is appreciated..

posted by mediocre to health & fitness (9 comments total)

I'd recommend MeMailing Jazz Hands. In this thread she says she is a dental assistant who works with denture wearers. She can probably answer your specific questions that aren't addressed in that thread.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:20 AM on May 9, 2008

Smoking anything will reduce the amount of oxygen in the tissue and make healing more difficult

/just had wisdom teeth removed
posted by [NOT HERMITOSIS-IST] at 11:27 AM on May 9, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I knocked my front two teeth out in a cycling crash last September. I just had my implants placed a few weeks ago. I'll go back again in 4-6 months to have the abutments and crowns placed on those.

My diet for the few days after the extraction (September) and implant placement (April) was strictly ice cream and Percocet. My face was pretty messed up after the accident, so I was drinking only Ensure for awhile, actually. Scrambled eggs, cooled, worked also once I could get a fork in my mouth. Basically - as they should have told you - anything soft and cold to lukewarm. I've had a partial denture thing ("flipper", "stay plate", etc.) covering the work for the last 8 months or so while it heals, and it doesn't look all that bad considering how basic it is.

Please don't smoke anything. You'll more than double the risk of the implant procedure failing and not taking, and it's really expensive - let alone twice. The tissue bed can't take and grow in the bone with the restricted blood flow that smoking causes.

The one thing I've learned in my journey is that way more people have dental implants than you think!
posted by kcm at 11:53 AM on May 9, 2008

Your oral surgeon should have given you all of this information - please call her and ask for written instructions.
posted by tristeza at 1:04 PM on May 9, 2008

Yes, the surgeon gave me the by-the-book medical advice, but I was looking for some anecdotal advice which I find far more useful..
posted by mediocre at 1:45 PM on May 9, 2008

Mashed pears are yummy and healthier than ice cream. Just get some canned pear halves and mush them with a fork.

This also works for peaches but they're harder to mush.
posted by sondrialiac at 1:57 PM on May 9, 2008

I broke my jaw a couple of years ago in a bike crash and was not allowed to eat solid food for a few months. I wasn't even allowed semi-soft stuff or anything that couldn't be syringed into my mouth (I couldn't use a straw until the sutures from the surgery healed), but I could drink out of bottles.

The problem with soups in blenders is that they have very few calories. In order to staunch the weight loss to something not resembling starvation, I started drinking Ensure Plus (350 calories a bottle). Six of those a day kept my body weight level and gave me a pretty good balance of nutrients.

The most beautiful day in my life was when the doctor cleared me to eat solid food again. I attacked that Chole Bhature with a vengeance.
posted by phoebus at 2:52 PM on May 9, 2008

Don't smoke - dry socket.
posted by b33j at 5:10 PM on May 9, 2008

There is absolutely no reason for you to feel humiliated. A lot of people lose teeth for various reasons and at various ages. As far as being young and getting dentures...a friend of mine was in her early 30s when she got dentures. She hasn't had any problems with them at all and says she prefers them to her real teeth as she had so many problems with her real teeth. I can't tell that she wears dentures even though I know she does. They look like real teeth to me.

You mentioned implants so I'm not sure if you and she will end up with the same type because she's never mentioned implants. As far as I know she just slips them out and in without attaching them to anything. Her only complaint is when she had all her teeth pulled and the dentures was placed on her gums that just had teeth pulled out of them. She said that was very painful. But that's been the only thing I've ever heard her complain about.

I can't offer you any advice on what to eat since I know nothing about dental issues. Just be sure to stick to the advice the doctor gives you because a dry socket is the last thing you want.

I hope all goes well for you and you'll be flashing a bright new smile in no time. Good luck.
posted by GlowWyrm at 8:10 PM on May 9, 2008